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Matthew 27:57-66; Mark 15:42-57; Luke 23:50-56; John
19:31-42.
Historical Setting:
Time: Friday, April 7, A.D. 30,
between 3 p.m and 6 p.m.
Place: On, and near
Calvary.
Persons: Christ, Joseph of Arimathea,
Nicodemus, women, Pilate, the chief priests, the Roman
centurion and soldiers.
This is the second day of the Passover. It is
the day that the “wave sheaf” is offered to the Lord.
It is the custom that on the previous evening a sheaf of
barley was cut. The barley was then threshed out onto the
ground, and on this day the flour, mixed with oil and
frankincense, is waved before the Lord. It is a joyous
ceremony, which nothing must mar.
The usual custom of the Romans was that the bodies of the
crucified remain on the crosses until they were devoured by
birds of prey. But Jewish law stated that bodies should not be
left hanging over night of the Sabbath, for that would defile
the land. The chief priests, the same ones who had cried,
“Away with Him,” insisting that Christ be condemned to
this horrible death, are now running back to the governor,
begging that the bodies be removed, so as not to defile their
Sabbath, and the Holy ceremony of this Passover season.
So here were these troublesome priests again, before
Pilate, asking for more favors. Usually in cases of criminal
prosecution Pilate’s duty was over as soon as he had passed
sentence. The rest of the details were left up to others, but
it seems that this particular case would never end. He is so
sick and tired of these Jewish leaders and their hypocritical
ceremonies, and his conscience is so raw because of having
condemned this Holy Man. So to get them off his back, and so
that he could get on to other things, Pilate gives in to their
demand. He commands the soldiers to look after the job.
To speed up the deaths so that the bodies could be disposed
of before the Sabbath, the soldiers take a heavy wooden mallet
and break the legs of the two men on the opposites sides of
Jesus. When they come to Jesus, however, they see that He is
already dead, so they do not break His bones... The soldiers
didn’t know that Scriptural prophecy was being fulfilled–nor
would they have cared, if they had known.... When the first
Passover took place at the Exodus of God’s people out of
Egypt, the instructions were that they were to break no bones
in the lamb, which was prepared for the feast. Nor was a bone
broken of the “Lamb of God who taketh away
the sins of the world.” The prophecy in Psalm
34:20 was fulfilled: “He keepeth all
His bones: not one of them is broken.”
One soldier, however, to make doubly sure of Christ’s death
thrusts his spear into His side, piercing His heart. Blood and
water stream out, thus convincing the soldiers that Christ is
dead. This soldier didn’t realize either that he was
fulfilling prophecy. Zechariah 12:10 “For they shall look upon Me whom they have
pierced.” These wicked people, in doing all that
was done at Jesus’ crucifixion, did not know that they were
fulfilling what was prophesied hundreds of years before by the
prophet Isaiah, and others. (See Isaiah 53
for a full account of Jesus’ death.)
The sadistic soldiers now walk away from the
horrific scene of the dead. To them it is just the finish of
another week at work. So hardened were they at the sight of
suffering and dying that they are not even affected when they
see Jesus spill His blood. But this spilling of blood and
water is what Christ’s dying was all about. We cannot walk
away from this scene and not be touched. We either harden our
hearts further, as the soldiers did, or we fall at Christ’s
feet, acknowledging that He shed His blood for us. We cannot
ignore Christ’s blood. “Without the
shedding of blood there is no remission.”
Hebrews 9:22. There is no such thing as a bloodless
salvation. We can be forgiven our sins in no other manner. We
must accept that awful bloody scene at Calvary, as Christ’s
substitutionary death for us.
Crowds are still gathered at the place of the cross, but
most of them are now becoming bored with the scene. The men
are dead. There is no more suffering to watch. They begin to
disperse to their homes. John has taken Jesus’ mother, Mary,
home with him; and the other women, too grieved to witness the
final scene of Jesus’ removal from the cross, follow along
behind, trudging to their homes to grieve in private. But as
the others are dispersing, two prominent men, who had been
watching earlier, arrive back at the scene. They have been
away making some arrangement.
One of the members of the Sanhedrin is Joseph of Arimathea,
a good and a just man of wealth and position. He had secretly
believed in Jesus but had never had the courage to come out
and profess his faith; as there had been a decree that any
members of the Sanhedrin who became followers of the heretic,
Jesus, would be expelled from the synagogue. However, Joseph
had not sided with the counsel of the Jews when they condemned
Jesus. I am sure he would have done his best to avert the doom
imposed upon Jesus. As Joseph witnessed Christ’s death, he
scrapes together the small amount of courage he has and slips
away to Pilate.
After gaining an entrance with the pompous governor, and
possibly handing him a generous gift of money, Joseph presents
his request. Joseph had a large garden not far from Calvary.
The flowers at this time were at their loveliest, and the
beautiful trees cast restful shadows. In this garden was a
new, never-yet-used tomb. Joseph’s request to Pilate is that
he be allowed the body of Christ so that he could give Him a
proper burial in a private place, unknown and inaccessible to
the public.
To Joseph’s request Pilate says,“What! Is He already
dead?” He knows that many times it takes days for the
crucified to die; so to hear that Jesus was already dead gives
him a shock. But he wouldn’t take this Jew's word for it; he
sends the centurion to go check. When it is affirmed, he
grants Joseph’s request. Anything to get this Man gone from
his memory. Joseph hurries back to the cross.
And there is another man at the scene of the cross, right
to the end as well, Nicodemus. He too is a believer, and also
one who has not been brave enough to acknowledge Christ
openly. In John chapter 3 we read about
Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night, and being converted. But
since he is a Jewish teacher, a Rabbi, he has been afraid to
confess Christ openly because of his fear of the Jews’
reprisals. At one time in the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus had stood
up for Jesus, asking the counsel if it were lawful to judge
Christ before He had been given a hearing. For this question
he had been accused of being a disciple of Jesus. (John
7:50-52) Now, however, like Joseph, he longs to do for
Christ what he had been afraid to do while He lived. So while
Joseph is getting Pilate’s permission to bury the body,
Nicodemus is out buying spices and fine linens to prepare
Christ’s body for burial.
Tenderly the men lift the Savior from the cross, careful
that the nails do not damage His flesh any worse than they
already had. Then they take Jesus to Joseph’s home, lovingly
washing His wounded body. The blood has dried on His back,
scarred by the whippings, and around the wounds inflicted by
the nails and the spear. It is not an easy task washing a dead
body at the best of times, but in Jesus’ case it would have
been an extra difficult job.
When they are finished they anoint Jesus’ body with the
costly ointment Nicodemus had purchased and wrap Him in the
fine linen. Then together they carry Him to the new sepulcher
in Joseph’s garden. They roll a large stone in front of the
entrance of the tomb, agreeing together to come back after the
Sabbath to complete the embalming. It is nearing the hour of
sunset of the Sabbath, at which time all work must cease. They
would already be banned from the ceremonies that would take
place, as by touching Christ’s dead body they had become
contaminated. But their hearts are too sad to think about that
as they make their way back to the city to observe the
Passover ceremonies.
Although forgotten by His friends, Jesus’ enemies, the
chief priests and Pharisees, remember Christ’s words about
“rising again.” So they go rushing back to Pilate with another
request. “Sir,” they say, out of breath, “We remember that that deceiver said, while He
was yet alive, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ Command
therefore that His sepulchre be made sure until the third day,
lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say
unto the people, ‘He is risen from the dead’; so that the last
error be worse than the first.”
Pilate is thoroughly fed up with the whole matter. He spat
out his answer, “You have a guard; go, make it as sure as
you can.” Anything to get these nuisances out of his life
forever. His head is aching, and he just wants to flee to the
comfort of his home, shutting out his business life for a few
days. But then he thinks about his wife, and how upset she has
been since the first of this whole affair, and he realizes
that even home isn’t peaceful anymore. **
So the chief priests and Pharisees go rushing back to the
garden. There they seal the stone with the imperial seal,
which no one, under threat of death, dare break. And they set
up their guards. Thus again, unwittingly, they carry out God’s
plans to make the fact of the resurrection known to both Jew
and Gentiles.
**According to some records, Pilate committed
suicide a few years after this business with Jesus' trial and
condemnation.
© Helen Dowd
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